1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to agricultural vehicles. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to a system and method for assisting in the refilling of a container of an agricultural vehicle.
2. Related Art
Agricultural vehicles must be periodically refilled with seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides, water, and other applied materials and with fuel. When used to apply substances to large and/or remote fields, it is not always practical to drive an agricultural vehicle back to a central filling station. Thus, agricultural vehicles are often filled in-place with refilling vehicles. To minimize re-filling time, an operator generally attempts to estimate when the vehicle needs to be filled (with material or with fuel) and in what position to place the vehicle in order to allow refilling vehicles and refilling equipment to reach the vehicle's associated ports and fill points. Leaving this determination up to the operator is not very efficient or accurate. For example, if an operator estimates he can make one more pass across a field with the amount of material remaining in a hopper of the vehicle, but estimates incorrectly and runs out of material remote from a refilling station or refilling location, the operator must travel to the refilling location and back to the stopping point while not dispensing any of the material onto the field, wasting both time and fuel.